The Story of Creation as Told By Theology and By ScienceAckland, T. S. (Thomas Suter)
Religion
The Story of Creation as Told By Theology and By Science
Ackland, T. S. (Thomas Suter)
Bible and science; Creation; Religion and science
Whether or not we assume the theory of development to be wholly or
partially correct in reference to the lower animals, we must admit
that it is true of man, but in a sense totally different from that
which Mr. Darwin suggests. The development of which he is the
advocate is a development of race, in which the advance made by
each individual generation is exceedingly small, while the
difference in remote generations, the accumulated advance of
successive generations, is great. In man, on the contrary, there
is no reason whatever to believe that there has been any advance
at all in the race from the very earliest periods--that either in
physical power or intellectual ability the present generation of
men, taken as a whole, are in any way superior to their most
remote ancestors. The development of which man is especially
capable is the development of the individual, that development
being not physical, but intellectual and moral, and being in a
great degree dependent on the will and perseverance of the
individual, and very little on external circumstances. The result
of these individual developments has been the accumulation of a
vast fund of wealth, useful arts, sciences, literature, which form
the common possession of the whole race, but do not necessarily
imply the slightest advance in any particular individual--that
advance being dependent, not on the possession of those treasures,
but on the use made of them. In the case of man then development
does certainly exist, but it takes a line totally distinct from
that which Mr. Darwin advocates, and thus forms another broad line
of demarcation between man and the most advanced of the lower
animals.
It appears then that the faculties of man differ generically from
those of the animals. A new order of things seems to have
commenced with the appearance of man on the earth--an order in
which the highest place was to be maintained by intellectual
instead of physical power. No mere process of evolution then will
account for man's origin. His physical nature may have been formed
in that way; but we cannot believe that his intellectual and moral
nature were developed from any lower creatures. Only some special
Creative interference can account for his existence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account